The invention relates to an application device for highlighting hair, which is constructed particularly in the form of closure cap for mounting on the opening of a container receiving or containing a hair colorant, wherein the cap has at least one outlet opening, with at least one product guide and adjacent thereto at least one removable guide prong.
An application device of this kind is known from United States Patent Specification U.S. Pat. No. 2,672,875. A plate with bores can be pushed into the device, the bores being aligned with the product guides in the cap in the pushed-in state of the plate. Outwardly extending bunches of bristles are arranged on the plate and between the product guides or bores. Dovetail-shape grooves, in each of which the base of a respective comb can be inserted, are arranged at both sides of the elongate, dovetail-shape grooved push-in opening for the said plate. The comb prongs, which correspond with the above-mentioned guide prongs, have the form of pins as usual with known combs.
A measured and uniform application of hair colouring agent to the hair is achieved by the arrangement of the bristles around the outlet opening, because the bristles on the one hand prevent issue of too great a quantity of the agent and on the other hand distribute the agent uniformly by the brushing motion.
In the case of the known application device for colouring strands of hair the bristles are covered in their entire length with the hair colorant, although only the bristle ends have to be used for dyeing locks of hair. This has the consequence that in the case of a comb movement, parts of the hair lying to the side of the hair locks to be coloured are also covered by the colouring agent, which is not, however, desired in dyeing the strands. The use of comb prongs corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 2,672,875 does not make any difference, because the hair colouring agent flows outwardly at both sides around the pin-shaped comb prongs so that the coloured strip-shaped region is widened. Moreover, in the case of certain hair colouring agents the agent, which is forced out of the outlet opening by manual pressure on the flexible wall, is obstructed by the bristles such that a sufficient feed of the agent to the bristle ends is not always guaranteed.
In the case of known application devices the user is therefore limited to only one kind of dye. The user can dye his or her hair over a wide area or in narrow strips with intermediately disposed undyed hair locks.
The invention therefore has the object, in relation to an application device of the kind stated in the introduction, of improving the use property thereof for the colouring of hair locks. In particular, it should be made possible for the user to achieve, with the same application device, not only a wide-area dyeing, but also dyeing of a particularly narrow hair lock which is cleanly separated from undyed locks.
According to the invention this object is met in the case of the application device of the kind stated in the introduction in the manner that the guide prong is formed to be substantially strip-shaped and the width thereof is at least twice as large as the inner diameter of the product guide.
When the guide prong is removed, the hair colorant is distributed over a wide area on the hair locks, so that a wide dyed strip is achieved. If, however, the guide prong is fitted, the user obtains a narrow dyed hair lock, wherein the shape and width of the guide prong prevents the hair colorant from running outwardly at the sides of the lock to be dyed and thus widening the dyed lock in undesired manner and usually also non-uniformly, in that instance depending on the manual pressure on the hair. An advantageous secondary effect of the guide prong is the combing, and thus hair disentangling, action thereof.
In order to be able to produce a lock which is narrowly and cleanly separated at both edges from undyed hair it is moreover of advantage if at least two guide prongs are provided, between which the at least one product guide is arranged.
If several dyed locks are to be made possible simultaneously andxe2x80x94when the guide prongs are removedxe2x80x94a particularly wide dyed lock, then it is of advantage if several product guides arranged adjacent to one another are provided, between which the removable guide prongs are arranged. When the guide prongs are fitted, dyed locks which are arranged parallel to and cleanly separated from one another by an undyed region are obtained. The guide prongs here additionally serve the purpose of preventing the narrow dyed strip-shaped hair regions from running into one another. The hairs present between the strips remain completely undyed, due to the combing action of the guide prongs. The principal cause for this effect resides in the fact that the guide prongs narrow the outlet region of the hair colorant from the application device to tightly limited regions clearly separated from one another. This narrowing and limiting of the outlet regions of the hair colorant is achieved with the above-mentioned application device even with only one product guide and only one guide prong.
So that the outer ones of the dyed hair locks arranged parallel to one another are cleanly delimited at their outer edges relative to the rest of the hair and the outer hair locks have the same width as the inner hair locks it is additionally of advantage if each product guide is arranged between two mutually opposite guide prongs.
Moreover, it is proposed that the product guides are resilient. In use of the application device the product guides are lightly bent against the direction of movement so that the application of the colorant is made easier.
The product guides can be formed as tubelets, for example as a flexible hose and particularly as a silicon hose. In that case it is preferred if the tubelets are formed to be bristle-like at the outlet opening, as explained in more detail in the following by way of an example of embodiment. The bristles on the one hand exert an additional combing action and on the other hand distribute the hair colorant particularly uniformly on the hair locks.
Moreover it is proposed that bristles are arranged around the outlet openings of the product guides. A more measured and uniform application of the hair colouring agent to the hair is thereby achieved. The bristles on the one hand prevent issue of too great a quantity of the agent and on the other hand distribute the agent uniformly by the brushing motion.
In that case it is particularly preferred if the outlet openings of the product guides are arranged at a spacing from the bristle base. In this manner the outlet opening is displaced to a certain extent from the bristle base into the central region of the bristles, so that the agent is passed substantially only to the bristle ends and the throttling action of the bristles on the agent is partly relieved. Moreover it is thereby avoided that appreciable quantities of hair colouring agent remain at the bristle base, thus in the foot region of the bristles, and do not get to the hair, but dry out in this region. Overall, the dyeing of hair locks is improved by the application device.
Nevertheless, the agent should pass to the hair not directly, but only by way of the bristle ends. It is therefore proposed that the outlet openings are arranged between the bristle base and the bristle ends.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention it is proposed that the cap has a bore which is outwardly prolonged by means of a tubelet towards the outlet opening, the length of the tubelet being smaller than the bristle length, wherein the tubelet extends outwardly from the bristle base substantially parallel to the bristles.
It has proved particularly advantageous in the sense of the invention if the length of the tubelet corresponds to approximately two-thirds of the bristle length. If the bristles are arranged in the manner of a ring around the outlet opening, it is ensured with certainty that the hair colouring agent always goes firstly to the bristles and not directly to the hair strands, so that the agent is uniformly applied without problems.
For simultaneous colouring of several hair strands it is of advantage if several outlet openings, preferably each formed as an opening of a respective tubelet, each with a respective bunch of bristles arranged around the respective outlet opening are disposed adjacent to one another. In this manner several hair strands lying parallel to one another and dyed in particularly uniform manner are produced.
In addition, there is proposed at least one guide prong which extends outwardly further than the product guides and, in particular, further than the bristles. Through the length of the guide prongs it is ensured that a minimum spacing of the bristle ends from the scalp is maintained so that only the hair locks lying at the top of the head hair, but not the hair region at the root or even the scalp, are treated with the hair colouring agent. Moreover, a particularly clean separation of the dyed region from the undyed region is achieved.
The hair strands are separated from one another particularly cleanly if in accordance with a further advantageous embodiment of the invention at least a part of the guide prongs is arranged between adjacent bunches of bristles.
If, as already proposed above, bunches of bristles are arranged around the outlet openings, it is of advantage if the width of the guide prongs is at least as large as the outer diameter of the bunch of bristles.
In that case it has proved particularly advantageous if the width of the guide prongs amounts to 2 to 7 mm and, particularly, 3 to 5 mm.
It is further proposed that the guide prongs are detachably fastened to the cap. For convenient manipulation it is additionally of advantage if the guide prongs are part of a one-piece attachment detachably connected with the cap. The prongs can then be removed from the cap together as a block in one operation and refitted as needed.
A simplification in recycling of the discarded application device is achieved if the cap and the bristles consist of different polyolefins and thus belong to the same class of synthetic material. In that case the cap should consist of a hard material and the bristles of a soft material. It is advantageous if the cap consists of polypropylene and the bristles consist of polyethylene,
For economic production of the application device it is, in addition, proposed that the cap and the bristles are produced integrally in a multi-component injection-moulding process.
The invention moreover relates to a container, which contains hair colorant, with an application device as explained in the foregoing. In that case it is advantageous if the closure cap of the container is formed as such an application device.
Embodiments of the invention are described in more detail in the following by reference to drawings. There: